North Korea News Podcast by NK News - Dae-hyeon Park: Empowering North Korean defectors by bridging information gap

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

North Korean defectors face a huge information gap upon arrival in South Korea and in this week’s episode we’re joined by Dae-hyeon Park, the founder and CEO of Woorion, an NGO that supports North Korean defectors in their resettlement and integration into South Korean society. He discusses the events and personal motivations that led him […]

You're listening to an exclusive episode of the NK News podcast available only to subscribers. You can listen to this and other episodes from your preferred podcast player by accessing the Private Podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide on the NK News podcast. I'm your host, Jaco Zwetslu, and this podcast episode was recorded in the NK News studio on Tuesday, the 18th of February, 2025. And I'm joined today by Mr. Park Dae-hyun, who is the founder and CEO of Uryon, an NGO dedicated to supporting North Korean defectors in their

resettlement and integration into South Korean society. Established in 2015, that's almost 10 years ago, URION offers a comprehensive online platform providing essential services such as educational programs and mentorship to bridge the information gap and empower defectors towards self-reliance. You can find their website at www.worion.org. We will put a link in the show notes. And on Instagram at Urion, that's the same spelling, www.worion.org. Welcome on the show, Dejan. Thanks for having me.

So to start, could you share a personal experience that inspired you to start this organization, Urion? So it was 10 years ago. I somehow saw that North Korean defectors actually lack of getting useful informations about housing, scholarships, and other useful information. And I actually... How long had you been here at that time? It was about three years.

Okay. So you'd been in Korea for three years trying to find your way, and then you realized it's a lot of information, but not a lot of access to that information. That's correct. Right. So I met with my friends and we decided to take a survey on that. So we did, and 150 people actually participated in the survey. Okay.

And 72% of North Korean defectors did not know where or how to find this useful information. So I wanted to solve this problem. That's how we started. And that information can be as simple as how to find a job or where to rent a house or how to open a bank account, just basic information, right? All that information included with some organization trying to help North Korean factories.

Those also information are included in our platform. Right, because it's okay to have an organization, but if the people don't know the organization, and if the organization doesn't know the people, then they'll never meet. Exactly. Okay, so it's a network for North Koreans run by North Koreans.

That's sort of in a simple nutshell what it is, right? Yeah. Now we've already used the word North Korean defectors a couple of times in this interview, but these I probably should have started by asking, what do you prefer to call people from North Korea who now live in South Korea? I know there are many different labels that are possible.

What do you normally use when you speak English? I will say defectors. Okay. And also I don't mind using the word escapees. Okay, escapees. How do you feel about refugees? That's the term I don't really use for a long time. Okay.

Let's stick with defectors for today. Okay. All right. So can you elaborate a bit more about the specific services and programs that the platform Urion offers to North Korean defectors? It's not just a database, right? No, actually, Urion is offered on an online platform with essential information like what I said, housing, education, health care, and employment. We also run mentorship programs, and employment. We also run mentorship programs and career counseling and scholarship and community building as well. And also we also have educational

team which they are focusing on raise awareness of human rights, North Korean human rights issues and capacity building. And also we are focusing on the research team which is research center we help institutions and researchers to help with sharing the database. Okay so it sounds like some of your activities are offline is that correct? Offline and online. Yeah so you're a really hybrid organization. Correct. What percentage of defectors aged between 18 and 60, do you believe, are aware of Urion and use your platform? So currently

we have 12,000 North Korean defectors using our services, but we don't know specifically the age, ages and genders, because we don't want to get that much information in our open platform. But I would say one third of our total population are using our platform. And ages between the 18 and 16, I'm sure majority of them at least heard about us

or they have used our services. And do they hear about you from other defectors through word of mouth? Yes, and also I recently heard about this information from Ministry of Unification that Hana Center and also Hanawon before they actually came out to society. Do you know Hana? Yes, Hana one, there's one, I visited one in Anseong in Gyeonggi province. Yes.

I don't remember if that was the men's center or the women's center, but I went there once and that's where defectors receive. How long is it now? Is it three months? Still three months. Three months of basically resettlement training. Here's how you get a driver's license. Here's how you get a telephone and those kinds of basic things

of how to survive in South Korean society. And that's run by the Ministry of Unification, right? Yes. Okay, and are they, so the 101 people, are they telling defectors about Uryon before they go out into the world? Yes, that's correct. Okay, so now you have

at least some government promotional assistance to let people know about the fact that you exist and you can help. Because once they leave Hanawon, is that the end of the government information assistance for most defectors? No, actually there are many small organizations founded by the government. They're actually taking care of North Korean defectors once when they adapted into society. They also share the information, but however specifically sharing the information, I think outside the government found the organization is only us. And there's one of the website called the Hana Foundation, which they also have their own running their own website. Okay, so are they competing with you or you just you're all trying to help the same people? I mean we are in the same mission so there's no way we can just put it at competitions.

Right, so the more the better in a way. More the better definitely. Yeah, now so how does URININ address the information gap that many defectors encounter upon their arrival in South Korea? Because even if I go to a website, for example, if I go to Naver, there's so much information available, but sometimes it's like an information overload and it's difficult to find what do I need in that moment. So how do you help people to find what they need? So we are providing very essential information, jobs and educations. So we are actually designing the information

specifically for North Korean defectors. Hey, this information is targeting X, Y, and G. So if you are that category, you should look at this. This information is targeting X, Y, and Z. So if you are that category, you should look at this. So we are helping them to understand the information through the designing. Okay, but because you don't know their age or their gender, you can't target a message to a specific defector. So you have to let every defector know everything,

and they have to decide, ah, that's for me or that's not for me. For now, yes. For now, okay. Does Urion, does the online platform also have like a chat bot or a chat function so that people can get some live assistance to find the information they need?

Yes, we do actually. It's Kakao group talk. Okay. It's a free of charge. So everybody is fully aware of what this IT is about. And everybody using South Korea Kakao. So we also have Kakao group chat. People are now joined, the 3000 plus people.

They can ask questions regarding the information or anything they need their assistance. Great. Now, could you tell us a bit about the role of mentorship in an audience approach and how mentorship impacts the lives of defectors? So mentorship is crucial because defectors often lack strong social network. We match new arrivals with experienced defectors. And also we have South Korean-born people with their expertise to matching them with North Korean defectors to helping them for their adapting new society.

Okay. What are some of the different ways that a North Korean mentor and a South Korean-born mentor can help North Korean defectors? I would say I can say only my own experience. I would say me myself, I don't want to call it mentee, but people are visiting our office for example, and if they they have problems it could be a very personal one and they ask questions about it what would you do if I'm in your situation and I will basically give them more information at least they have a chance to choose which one is right for them. For example if I get fired from the job, what should I do?

And then I'll listen to the mentees, is there any legal advice I should give to the person? Then I just listen to them and we can find lawyers who can be able to help with them. And if I need to tell them something about my own personal experience, then I will give them the guidance. And sometimes it's more about connected with a person. Connection is important. Not only friendship, but I mean the more like emotional way to get to know the person and make sure that I a trustworthy person. You can tell me anything and I'm here to help you with. Now I guess it's easy to understand that a fellow defector can give some advice or at

least share their own experience because they've been through a similar experience. I'm just wondering what is the value added that the South Korean mentors can give? Curious to hear the rest? Become an NK News subscriber today for access to the full episode. can give. player by accessing the Private Podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide on the NK News website at nknews.org slash private dash feed.